BATHS MYSTERY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1622, 13 December 1912, Page 7

BATHS MYSTERY.

9 I •REMARKABLE DROWNING CASE. LAD DISAPPEARS. CROWD AWARE 01? NOTHING. It 6eems incrediblo that a lad should bo drowned immediately under the eyes of some hundreds of people, without anyone being aware of what had happened. Yet that is what occurred at the Te Aro Baths on Wednesday afternoon. The < baths were thronged all day, and the halfholiday brought with it an especially big crowd of bathers, anxious to cscapo the heat in the cool waters of the harbour. . i The crowd came and went, careless and happy, and nobody so much as dreamed ■ that a tragedy had occurred. ' After the last bather had gone, the ; caretaker, Mr. Wilton, made his round of tho dressing sheds before closing up, and was amazed to discover the uniform and clothing of a telegraph messenger lying in .' •! one of tho cubicles. No owner was in ! sight for the clothes, and a thorough • ! search revealed no sign of one. Every- > thing pointed to a .tragedy, for it was '; practically impossible for the lad to have f departed without his clothes. Mr. Wilton ; called in- the assistance of Constable ■ '"! Mltelvie, of the Clyde Quay Police Station, and though tho baths were dragged j until 10 o'clock no sign of a body could be ' i found. ' . ■ ; Meanwhile it was ascertained that the ' ; owner of the clothes, Reginald Jonnnax, ! a lad of sixteen, had been due to take up duty at the Telegraph Office at 6 p.m., i but had not put in an appearance, nor i had he returned to his home in M'Donald ■■ j Crescent. •' ' . i Yesterday morning dragging was con- ! tinued, and it was then that tho body j was recovered, lying towards the centre of • the baths, a little distance out from the water-chute. i Jounnax was a well-grown lad, sft. Sin. '; m height, and it is stated that he could swim a little. Prom the number of the ticket found in the pocket of his uniform, j it is believed that he must have gone ; into the baths at about 4.30 p.m. It was about half-tide 'at that time, v and ! there would bo between four and five feet of water off the end of the chute. It is surmised that the lad dived off the chute, and hit the bottom, with the result that he was stunned, and ■ thus drowned without a cry or a struggle. If he had no companions with him it would be quite possible in the crowded 6tate of tho baths for no one to notice, that tho diver-had never reappeared. The depth of water at the chute at tha ■ time would, one would think, have been sufficient to prevent the lad from receiving a blow of such severity, but it is difficult on any other hypothesis to account for ' , the accident. The medical evidence at the ; inquest,; which will probably take place at ; the courthouse at 10 a.m. to-day, will be awaited with interest.- , At the City Council meeting last night, Councillor Shirtcliffe asked if tho Mayor '• I had yet received a report on the drowning . fatality at To Aro Baths. , ,' The Mayor replied that the town olerK had received a report covering much the same material as appeared in the local papens. ■ ' . On the motion- of the Mayor, the conn- : oil passed a, resolution condoling with' ' the mother of the deceased.